14 Mar 2018
The Gold Coast welcomed a record number of international visitors in 2017 and clearly cemented its place as Queensland’s number one holiday destination.
The latest International Visitor Survey (IVS) results show that 1.1m overseas visitors came to the Gold Coast for the year ending December 31.
Gold Coast Tourism CEO Martin Winter said this record number was up 4.1 per cent on the previous year.
“It is pleasing to see the international visitor numbers rise but what is really encouraging about the latest figures is that we also have seen an increase in visitor spend for the year.”
Overseas visitors spent $1.2 billion on the Gold Coast last year, up 2.1 per cent.
“That has been an area of concern in the past and it is good to see it bouncing back.”
Queensland overall saw a rise of 4.3 per cent in international visitors to a record 2.7m statewide, with expenditure up 3.6 per cent to a record $5.3b.
“Within these figures, we had 852,000 holidaymakers from overseas on the Gold Coast, which represents 45 per cent of the Queensland holiday total of 1.9m international visitors,” Mr Winter said.
“It shows we are still the destination of choice for a great holiday.”
China continues to grow as the lead source market, up 5.7 per cent to a record 309,000 visitors to the Gold Coast.
New Zealand is steady at 202,000 visitors, while United Kingdom (70,000); Japan (65,000) and USA (39,000) round out the top five source markets.
“Interestingly we have seen a spike in visitors from India and Canada,” Mr Winter said.
“These positive results for December follow other data just released showing terrific occupancy rates for January across Gold Coast hotels and accommodation. So the feeling that we have experienced one of our best summers is being realised through the statistics now,” he said.
|
|
Visitors |
Spend |
Total Nights |
|
Gold Coast |
1.1m (+4.1%) |
$1.2b (+2.1%) |
9.7m |
|
Queensland |
2.7m (+4.3%) |
$5.3b (+3.6%) |
53.1m |
|
Australia |
8m (+6.2%) |
$28.4b (+8.2%) |
264.7m |
Top 5 Source Markets
|
China |
309,000 (+5.7%) |
|
New Zealand |
202,000 (-0.9%) |
|
United Kingdom |
70,000 (-0.2%) |
|
Japan |
65,000 (+2.2%) |
|
USA |
39,000 (+3.5%) |
*International visitor data is provided by International Visitor Surveys conducted by Tourism Research Australia for year ending December 2017.
ENDS
CONTACT: Dean Gould, Executive Director, Corporate Affairs and Strategy / 07 5584 6265 / 0411 657 381 / dean.gould@gctourism.com
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